Raising Joeys

I have had the privilege of raising several kangaroo joey's. This page is about two female red kangaroos named 'Amy' and 'Chloe' and the other was a male Euro kangaroo named 'PJ' . They were about five and a half months old when I first got them, while working at a wildlife rehabilitation center. Their mothers had all been shot out in country areas and the joey's were rescued from their mothers pouch and brought to Perth.

They all had a fine layer of fur and needed 4 bottles a day. The bottles are much smaller than baby bottles. At each feed they received about 50mls. They drank a formula that is made especially for kangaroos (you can not give them cows milk) it comes in a powder and you mix it with water. They love to drink their bottles and getting them all to settle down so you can give a bottle to each one can sometimes be both funny and frustrating. They can hiss and nip one another to get at the bottle, and they never seem to realize that there is always a bottle for each of them.

Amy being fed

After every feed you have to get the joey's very quickly to where you want them to go to the toilet as you have about 30 seconds before they wee. We don't want them to wee in their material pouches as there is enough washing to do with all the little 'accidents' and in winter it is quite a job to keep up with all the bedding.

Up until about 8 months old they spend most of their days in their warm secure pouches. I'm not sure if all Euros get into so much trouble or if it was just this one particular Euro . They all have their own personalities. PJ took any opportunity to get out of his pouch and get into mischief. At no more than 7 months old he would jump up onto the bathroom or kitchen bench and knock over, spill, and crash anything and everything in sight. Of course the girls never did such naughty things. PJ's pouch had to be tied shut to keep him in but usually at best this only slowed him down a little.

One day we heard a loud crash coming from our large bathroom where they were, the family automatically said "what's PJ done now?"

When I went in to inspect the damage I found the tap going (cold luckily) and water pouring out of the sink and down the cupboards. PJ had managed to knock a candle in a pot into the sink where it acted like a plug and then he knocked on the tap. I immediately looked around looking for the rascal to tell him off and found him hiding under the S-bend of the toilet soaking wet, it was impossible to be cross at him seeing him so wet. I was just glad that I had been home. With all the trouble that PJ caused he was my favorite because he also had the ability to give long sweet cuddles (oh, and then he'd nip you).

PJ the most mischevious baby!

By the time they were 1 1/2 years old they had to go to a wildlife center and continue the rest of their development on a bigger property. Saying goodbye for me and the whole family (including the neighbours and school kids) was very sad. We loved them, and we knew we would miss them greatly. We all cried when we said our final goodbyes and knew we would always treasure our time we had with them. We visited them a few times, and each time we could see them changing into more independent and mature roos. This is what they are supposed to do and we were pleased with their progress, but we still miss them to this day.